Product Description

The accelerated dragon is the perfect weapon for the competitive chess player. This text provides an objective and detailed analysis of all variations for white and black which should enable the reader to gain a true understanding of this defence while enjoying the scope of original thought.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2292176 in Books
• Published on: 1993-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 226 pages

From the Back Cover
Many players are attracted to the Dragon Sicilian, but are put off by the fierce mating attacks that White can launch. In the Accelerated Dragon, Black aims for an improved version, saving a move with his queen's pawn. If White tries to ignore the difference, Black's instant detonation of the centre will come as an unwelcome cold shower! The authors show that White's main reply, the Maroczy Bind, is not so fearsome as was once thought. Black has many ways to break out, while quite often it is possible to manoeuvre around White's 'binding' pawns and show that they imprison White's pieces as much as they do Black's. Written by two outstanding experts on the Accelerated Dragon, this book offers complete coverage of all lines of the Accelerated Dragon and many ideas for breaking the critical Maroczy Bind. International Master John Donaldson is Associate Editor of the acclaimed magazine inside Chess (Seattle). He is the author of several books, including theoretical opening works and painstakingly researched player biographies. He plays regularly and successfully in North American tournaments. International Master Jeremy Silman is co-author (with Yasser Seirawan) of Microsoft Press's series of chess books, and author of several openings books. (320 pages, 5 3/4' X 8 1/4')

About the Author

Customer Reviews

Solid, down to earth
I am one of those people who doesn't play the Sicilian often, because of how sharp and bookish it can be. In particular, the Sicilian Dragon is something I play only in the least important blitz games, as there are so many variations, and one's king gets stormed so darn often. From hard experience, I'd known that the Yugoslav variation stuff doesn't work against the accelerated dragon, but I'd never known the move sequences nor how to deal with all those c4 Maroczy Bind situations. This book capably tells you how to play the Accelerated, how to turn back white's efforts to try the Yugoslav Attack, and how to deal with the bind. It has a nice chapter on the Hyper Accelerated, and a mildly throwaway chapter on the Semi Accelerated system with ...Nc6 and ....g6. This is a good book, easily understandable by a B player like myself. Well done.

What I needed
I bought this book a week ago. Although I haven't had time to study it all in depth, I already like it more than my other opening books. I already played the accelerated Dragon, without knowing a lot of theory.

Many Whites play some sort of move order to reach the Yugoslav variation of the Dragon. That's not possible against the Accelerated, since Black can play ...d5!. But there are many tactical points in those lines to make Black equalize or win a pawn right away, and I always missed them. This book will allow me to punish mistakes every White seems to make, and I like that most :).

Furthermore, this is an opening book with quite a lot of text. It starts out with an overview of typical plans for both sides, and in the analysis chapters, many moves are accompanied with a small line saying what the idea is. I know I played many moves from other books not knowing why...

And it is complete. Aside from the main Accelerated e4 c5 Nf3 Nc6 d4 cxd4 Nxd4 g6, it also covers lines like the hyper-accelerated (e4 c5 Nf3 g6) which I sometimes like to play to avoid 3.Bb5, in 23 pages!, and things like the dubious e4 c5 Nf3 Nc6 d4 cxd4 Nxd4 Nf6 Nc3 g6.

The authors are absolute Accelerated enthusiasts so maybe there is a small Black bias, but I think most people who want to buy this book play it as Black anyway. The opening is completely playable.

Great book
After searching for a great way to create a battle from move 3, I found the accelerated dragon. This book gives wonderful examples of classic positions and discusses new theory. Full of lots of games for each major variant, it does a good job of verbally explaining the main ideas behind each line. This is for both black and white, though it is a little biased towards the black side.